Firefighters called to rescue car stranded in 18 inches of water

Fire engines, police, ambulance and two boat crews called to Headley Ford

Jane Meredith

jane.meredith@newburynews.co.uk

Contact:

01635 886637

FIREFIGHTERS responding to an emergency call out discovered a car 'stranded ' in 18 inches of water at a notorious ford.

At 9.05am today, three fire engines, two water rescue crews, police and ambulance services were scrambled to Headley Ford, in Thornford Road on the Hampshire/Berkshire border.

Firefighters discovered a lone male driver stranded in eighteen inches of water in a dark blue Ford Mondeo after the engine had stalled.

A huge amount of emergency resource is routinely allocated to incidents following reports of vehicles stranded in fords, which can often require complicated rescue techniques from deep and fast flowing water. But in this case, 18 inches was enough to cause problems for the driver who had been following SatNav instructions.

After firefighters towed the car out, firefighters said the driver had been "embarrassed and apologetic" at the amount of emergency resource his emergency call had triggered.

Firefighters have expressed their concern at the amount of resource and time such rescues take, warning that diverting such a large amount of emergency resources, puts lives at risk elsewhere.

Motorists have been told to avoid fords such as the Headley Ford whatever the conditions as even 18 inches is enough to flood the engine and to drive round to avoid injuring themselves, damaging their cars and wasting resources.

Firefighters left the scene at 9.45am.

Middlesex judge Jonathan Gammon was swept away and drowned at the Thornford Road ford following flash floods in April 2012 - after also following satnav instructions.

How about they just look out of their windscreen and concentrate on more than just a couple of inches of tarmac in front of their vehicle. At the very least if the satnav said carry straight on and they saw water in front of them they'd stop and think. Not forgetting all that signage which must have gone in one eye and straight out of the hole at the bottom of their torso.